The Diveyevo monastery Orthodox secondary school has summed up the results of the “Memory Knows No Borders” project that received the financial support from the Fund of Presidential Grants.

During the project, its participants were guided by the idea that one of the major goals of our society is the upbringing of the future generation, the instilling of the socially significant patriotic values, outlooks, and beliefs, the respect of Russia’s cultural and historical past and traditions in the minds of the young people. The “Museum of Courage” directed by Nun Natalia (Lyalushko) was founded in 2016 at the monastery school in Diveyevo to offset the absence of the exhibits dedicated to the Great Patriotic War in Diveyevo village and the local museums, as well as to acquaint the children and adolescents with this theme.

The museum curators have gained a lot of experience how to use the museum exhibits during the school lessons and settled to share the acquired knowledge beyond their school. It became possible within the framework of the “Memory Knows No Borders” project. The offsite museum-based lessons were presented in eight regional schools with 742 students taking part in them.

Throughout this project, the museum also offered on-site tours and museum lessons for 1076 people. Apart from the museum curators, the school’s own students volunteered as tour guides for the museum guests.

Since the majority of students at the Diveyevo monastery school belong to the low-income families and to families with a lot of children unable to visit other museums of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, taking the children to the local cultural destinations has become one of the project’s goals. As a result, most of the students, or about 400 children, were able to visit the distinguished places and the museums in the area.

Another focal area of the project, called “Memory Knows No Borders,” had to do with creativity. Within this project, the Diveyevo school held a diocese-wide reading competition dedicated to the Victory Day anniversary. It brought together 115 schoolchildren and preparatory school students from all over the region, where each participant received memorable gifts, books and encyclopedia about the Great Patriotic War.

The already-existing choir and theatre school clubs continued operation. The theatre club participants produced “The Nutcracker,” a play about the Nativity. On the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of the Great Victory celebrated on May 9, 2021, they presented the play called “The Star” after the story of the same name by Emil Kazakevich. During the rehearsals and the performances, the children were able to take on the role of wartime scouts. The youngest artists reflected later that this play made them think about many things and gave a new meaning to their perception of the war. The children got interested in the history of our country, its heroic past and it has become the most significant achievement for the organizers of this project. “My Joy,” the monastery school choir, also participated in the play. Overall, 848 spectators came to see it.

The children also learned to share the fruit of their labor with the neighbors. As part of the project, they made gifts for the residents of the social service centers, the “Diveyevo House of Mercy” and “The Red Sail” center for the rehabilitation of the adolescents. The students also handed over the hand-made throw blankets and veneer decoupage molds for the Fund of Assistance for young oncology patients. The children visited these organizations, held conversations with their residents thus gaining an invaluable life experiences.